Tag: Vol. 32 No. 19

Born George Meares in 1934, Harmonica Khan spent much of the 50s and 60s shuttling between his native North Carolina and the urban northeast, working day jobs and various gigs as a nightclub entertainer. He moved to Chicago in the late 60s, where as “Harmonica Kid” he sat in at venues such as the Trocadero […]

Thirtysomethings met Dave Frishberg while watching Schoolhouse Rock, for which he wrote a clever introduction to the legislative process, “I’m Just a Bill.” But their hipper parents and older siblings already knew Frishberg’s quirky lyrics from tunes like “Blizzard of Lies” (a hilarious catalog of the outright falsehoods we tell every day), “My Attorney Bernie” […]

Torkel Korling was one of America’s most important industrial photographers, but his first love was botany, which helps explain his work’s precise beauty. Among the 26 Korling photos in Stephen Daiter Gallery’s “Big Shoulders” exhibit are four untitled cityscapes that showcase his eye for geometry. My favorite is a 1930s image of two streetcars on […]

Bjork may be Iceland’s best-known musical product, but the country also has a lively classical music scene. Violinist Gudny Gudmundsdottir and cellist Gunnar Kvaran, the married couple who formed Trio Reykjavikur in 1988, are among that nation’s most prominent musicians and teachers–Gudmundsdottir has been the Iceland Symphony Orchestra’s concertmaster for almost three decades. Their playing […]

As you might expect of a rapper who’s spent a good chunk of the past decade speaking at colleges, KRS-One tends to lecture his audience. As you might also expect, the audience doesn’t always appreciate that. After he chastised chart topper Nelly last year, the younger MC’s response (as a guest on Freeway’s “Roc da […]